Cavin-Morris Spotlight

Helen Butler Wells and Norma Oliver were a New York phenomenon in the earlier part of the 20th C. It was considered unladylike for Society women to take part in the arts but it was socially ok for them to engage in Spiritualism and draw through the agency of spirits and mediumistic experiences. They formed the Jansenists and met in an apartment on Riverside Drive. Each had a Spirit guide named Eswald who guided her hand and who signed their works with a stamp made for him. The Society channeled aliens, slaves, historical figures like Socrates, Native Americans and others. The drawings often had laminated plastic on them to protect them. Norma Oliver was the adopted daughter ofWells and her mandalas were spirit portraits of various members of the Jansen Society. The drawings were discovered in the 26th Street flea market a number of years ago. Though they are represented in European collections like ABCD they have not yet been appreciated really by museums in the US. They are really an important example of American Art brut and also spiritualist New York history. We also have some of the Society's archives.